Red Wine-Braised Short Ribs Slow Cooker Recipe

Enter in the giveaway for America’s Test Kitchen’s Slow Cooker Revolution cookbook – the recipe below came from this book!

I LOVE beef short ribs. It all started when I had a pasta dish at a restaurant that had braised short ribs in it (I have since made it!). After that, I wanted to try making them myself. At first, I couldn’t find it in the grocery store but now it seems not all that hard to find in my local grocery stores. I can never find them boneless so when buying bone-in beef short ribs, I always look for the ones with a lot of meat on them.

I have made beef short ribs in a slow cooker several times now and when I was provided with a copy of Slow Cooker Revolution from America’s Test Kitchen, I knew I had to try this recipe: red wine-braised short ribs. Who could resist that?

First things first, this recipe is not your run of the mill, throw all of the ingredients in the slow cooker and forget about it for 6 hours. There is a certain amount of prep work and we really wanted to have this meal on a weeknight. So when I read the directions, I knew it would be too much to try to do before going to work in the morning. So I did everything the night before, all of the steps up until turn the slow cooker on. I put the crock in the refrigerator so all we had to do was put it into the slow cooker unit and plug it in.

This recipe is amazing…we followed the instructions and cooked on low for 11 hours, well worth the wait! The depth of flavor was amazing and the tenderness of the beef so delightful. I have definitely noticed the difference in following slow cooker recipes when using the low setting and America’s Test Kitchen recommends this if you have the time. If you don’t have the time, you can still cook this recipe on high for 5-7 hours.

Onions, Carrots and Celery. I always cut my vegetables first before cutting any meats on my cutting board.

This is what they look like after I de-boned them. See how thick the pieces of meat are?

This is what they looked like after being microwaved. Microwaving the bones renders the fat and gives this dish the roasted flavor without having to use the oven.

After browning the short ribs, place them into the slow cooker on top of the microwaved bones.

This is after the vegetables have been added and the sauce has been reduced.

This is when I wrapped the crock in plastic and put it in the fridge. In the morning, I just removed the plastic, placed the lid on top. I did wipe off the crock to get rid of some of the condensation.

This is what they look like after coming out of the slow cooker before putting the strained liquid onto it.

This recipe is a keeper!

Notes on the red wine: I used Como Sur Cabernet Sauvignon. My sister brought it over during the holidays. This is my new favorite Cabernet now.

Why this recipe works: Short ribs are all about the meat and the sauce, so to get a deeply flavored sauce, we first focused on the bones, which we knew were one key to flavor. Not wanting to roast the bones in the oven, we turned to the microwave, which helped in two ways: It rendered out unwanted fat (and short ribs are notoriously greasy), and it gave the bones a roasted flavor which in turn deepened the sauce during the long cooking time. One taste of these long-cooked ribs with their dark glossy sauce and you’ll be glad you put your microwave and skillet to work first.

Red Wine-Braised Short Ribs Recipe

Ingredients:

5 pounds bone-in English-style short ribs, meat and bones separated

Salt and pepper

2 tablespoons vegetable oil

2 onions, chopped medium

1 carrot, peeled and chopped medium

1 celery rib, chopped medium

2 tablespoons tomato paste

1 tablespoon minced fresh thyme or 1 teaspoon dried

3 tablespoons all-purpose flour

2 cups dry red wine

2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar

2 cups low-sodium chicken broth

2 bay leaves

2 tablespoons minced fresh parsley

Directions:

Arrange beef bones in a dish and microwave (in batches, if microwave is small) until well browned, 10 to 15 minutes; transfer to slow cooker.

Dry short ribs with paper towels and season with salt and pepper. Heat 1 tablespoon oil in 12‑inch skillet over medium-high heat until just smoking. Brown half of short ribs well on all sides, 7 to 10 minutes; transfer to slow cooker. Repeat with remaining tablespoon oil and remaining short ribs; transfer to slow cooker.

Add onions, carrot, celery, tomato paste, and thyme to fat in skillet and cook over medium-high heat until onions are softened and lightly browned, 8 to 10 minutes. Stir in flour and cook for 1 minute. Slowly whisk in wine and vinegar, scraping up any browned bits and smoothing out any lumps. Bring to simmer and cook until reduced to 1 cup, about 5 minutes; transfer to slow cooker.

Stir broth and bay leaves into slow cooker. Cover and cook until beef is tender, 9 to 11 hours on low or 5 to 7 hours on high.

Transfer short ribs to serving platter and tent loosely with aluminum foil. Let braising liquid settle for 5 minutes, then remove fat from surface using large spoon. Strain braising liquid, discarding solids, and season with salt and pepper to taste. Stir in parsley. Spoon 1 cup sauce over short ribs and serve with remaining sauce.

Posted in its entirety with permission from America’s Test Kitchen

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Serve this over mashed potatoes and your favorite vegetable and you’ll be transported to a wonderful world of flavor. Serve it with my best mashed potatoes recipe.

Verdict on the Slow Cooker Revolution cookbook? It’s a keeper, even if I hadn’t received it for me, I would have bought it. I can’t wait to try tons more recipes in the book such as Chicken Vesuvio, Chicken Curry in a Hurry and Korean Braised Short Ribs! By the way, I’m giving away a copy of the cookbook right here on the little kitchen but hurry, it ends on March 1, 2011.

So what do you think? Are you going to try this recipe? Do you have any beef short ribs recipes you would like to share with me?

64 comments

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Hey Julie,

I really want to make this for a dinner party that I am hosting but I have about 8 people coming–could I double the recipe and it still cook properly in the slow cooker? Would I have to adjust the time? Just wanted to check.Thanks!

Hi GLE, if you have enough room in your slow cooker, I say go for it and the cooking time would probably stay around the same time since it’s so long anyways. 9 to 11 hours on low would be the best for it. Hope you enjoy it!

I added 3 bay leaf and 3 cloves of garlic cut in half to the sauce. I cooked on high for 2 hours (I forgot about it) and then on low for 6 hours. My wife who doesn’t care for short ribs because of the sweet sauces that are typical, loved these. They are awesome and I’ve already been asked for the recipe by friends from Boston who seldom cook anything.

The recipe was very easy but the photographs of what the recipe should look like at each stage is great. I used beef broth instead of chicken stock. The smell in the kitchen is delicious. Will let you know how well the dish is enjoyed by family

Ok, I promised that I would let you know how the family liked the recipe. They didn’t like it,they loved it. The meat was tender and spicy. Over mashed potatoe,it was the best

A friend of mine recommended this recipe and oh my oh my it was delicious! My husband has always avoided short ribs because he said they’re too fatty. This recipe has changed our mind. Granted our ribs weren’t as good as yours in terms of meat to fat ratio I think, but it was so worth it to have to scrap some of the extra fat off when it was all done before pouring the sauce over top and diving in. Delicious!

Hoping to make this for Easter 🙂 Is it ok to keep the bone in? Would I still do microwave to skillet to slow cooker? Thanks!

Hi Chelsea, see the head note (paragraph above the ingredients) for why you want to remove the bones & microwave them, it’s really greasy if you don’t. I’m sure it would still taste good though! I haven’t done it with the ones on with this recipe so I can’t guarantee it will turn out the same.

If you leave the bone in, you still want to do the skillet step but don’t microwave the short ribs. Hope that helps!

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Welcome to The Little Kitchen! I'm Julie and I love to cook, bake, eat and share (not necessarily in that order). I share easy recipes, stories about my family (which includes my pets) and my travels. And I actually have a little kitchen...